Week 40: February 27, 2017: I have come to know that I was called here for a reason and I still don't know exactly why but I know that I just need to work hard and do my best and it will all work out!

Ya its super crazy that I am over halfway. I definitely feel like
parts have flown by and parts seem a little slower but overall, it
wont be too much longer until I'm home and thats insane. I am way
excited to see all of you again too and I love and miss you lots. I
always love getting emails and seeing how everyone is doing. I didn't
hear about Emme! That's so awesome! I'm sure that she is super excited
and that would be a really cool place to go! I think thats its funny
because every parent wants their child to stay in the states on their
mission and every child wants to go foreign. It was hard for me at the
beginning because I thought thatmy mission was below every other one
and when people would make jokes
about me going to "misery" instead of "Missouri" it always made me
feel bad. I hear other missionaries having crazy experiences and I
feel like mine can't compare but I have come to know that I was called
here for a reason and I still don't know exactly why but I know that I
just need to work hard and do my best and it will all work out. I'll
be honest, I still struggle to stay positive about my call sometimes
but then I just have to remember that even though others are in
another country, the work is still the same and we have the same
purpose. I wish that I could be learning Spanish but its hard when you
have served in an English area for almost 4 months (Ive only been out
9 months so thats almost 1/2 my mission that right there...). But I'll
just have to keep working on it and I still wont come as good as a lot
of my friends will be able to but I'll work on it after my mish too. I
really want to learn. Even when we do find people to teach in Spanish,
we have to refer them to the Spanish ward in our stake so that they can
have fellowships in that ward. It's rough.

S has been kinda struggling lately actually. We spent a lot of
time trying to visit and help him overcome his addictions this week
but he isn't making like any progress. He wont come to church or to
the ARP class because he gets embarrassed about it and we show up at
his house and he wont open the door or answer our calls but as soon as
we leave, he calls us and apologizes and wants us to help him. It's a
mess. We legit stood outside of his house ringing the doorbell and
pounding on the door for like 30 minutes before church because he said
he would come and we could hear him walking around and could smell him
smoking and he was just choosing not to answer it. So we are going to
take a little bit of a break from working with him and hopefully he
will recognize the absence of meeting with us and have the desire to
actually act on the things that we ask him to do and want to feel the
spirit again.

We helped an IR move into our ward this week though and that went
great! We had tons of people from the ward show up to help and had 4
companionships of elders come as well! We got it done super quick and
they are all set! They really appreciated it and we got a sweet text
from her cousin in Mexico thanking us and telling us all of these
sweet things! She still hasn't been able to come to church though
because she has stage 4 liver cancer and it just keeps getting worse.
She was in the hospital like all this week. Please keep her in your
prayers. She has 5 little girls and is terrified at what could happen.
She is so sweet!

We had an appointment with our Bishop on Saturday that went really
well! We talked about the missionary efforts in our ward and how we
can improve and work with the ward council to get these people
progressing towards making covenants, whether it be baptism or the
temple. We took some time to go through the ward roster and he helped
us to identify which ones would be good to go visit and gave us a
little background information about everyone. It was super helpful and
now we have lots of people that we can go work with! Plus, we all know
that less actives have a bunch of non member friends so thats the best
way to get work done.

We had lots of ups and downs this week but overall saw tons of
miracles and it was great! I loved the story that you shared about
Heidi having a rough day but at the end of the journal entry said that
it was a great day because so much in life depends on our attitude. We
are here on earth to be happy and have joy. Life gets hard and days
may seem dark and long but there is always a sunrise and a new day
with new beginnings. We may have trials but the atonement helps us to
see our true nature and comforts us through trials. We can get through
anything when we rely on the Savior. I think thats a good thing to
remember as we go into this week with Heidi's birthday and everything.
I love and miss her so much and I am grateful for her example to me.
Even though her passing was the hardest thing I've had to overcome, it
taught me lessons and I've become better from it. She was a great girl
and I hope to be as genuine and loving as she was.

It was so great to hear from you and I hope that everything gets
better with mom and Sophie's health! I hope that Jason will be happy
with whatever happens this week with BYU and I maybe ill actually get
an email from him??? I hope that you have fun in Utah and at the
Rodeo.
LUV YA LOTS

There is this super sweet guy in our ward who LOVES ninja turtles and this is his bedroom.

We were driving past Krispy Kreme and I were thinking about how
the Hot Now sign is NEVER on and then it literally flashed on for
literally like 5 seconds and then turned off again so we turned around
and snatched up some doughnuts


 

Week 39 February 20, 2017 When 2 girls in dresses knock on your door on Valentine's Day, they think something else....

Hey Family!
So this week was full of miracles, and one of them was that it was in
the 70s all this week and was BEAUTIFUL and super sunny outside ☀️But
of course, we give up the car in a week and thats when its supposed to
get cold again. It's been super nice though and we even started doing
our studies outside so that we can catch some sun.

So last week I told you that we got a call from a man who said that he
has gone through some experiences lately that make him want to start
meeting with the missionaries again and this week we actually got to
meet him in person and start teaching him! His name is S and he is
so sweet! He told us about this spiritual experience that he had when
he was meeting with missionaries over 20 years ago and how he felt the
spirit just come over him and he said that its something he could
never forget nor deny and that was super cool! Its just such a huge
testimony builder of how important the spirit it is in conversion and
its incredible how it's something that he has never been able to
forget or feel again even though he has been researching other
religions for the past 20 years. But now he's serious and wants to
keep meeting with us and be baptized because he says he knows the
church is true now. The only problem is that he has some struggles
with the word of wisdom that he is trying really hard to overcome so
we have been working with him a lot on that and trying to help him
develop the faith to quit and motivate him through the process of it
all. He calls us probably like 10 times a day but I'm so glad that we
are able to help him. He is so funny. We felt that should randomly go
visit him so we called him while we were on our way over to his house
and then just stayed outside talking with him but after we finished
our lesson he was like "hey, you like games? I got some good games we
could play" haha. We explained to him that we couldn't but here's
where it gets good. He tells us he has the virtual world thing or
whatever that you put on your head and its like your inside the game
and then starts running around shooting cyborgs haha. Needless to say
he was a little drunk but he's working on it!

We spent most of Valentine's Day at the mission home because we had
the mid-trainers meeting. It's basically just this meeting with all
the 6 week missionaries and you hear trainings and talk about how the
trainers and trainees are doing and other stuff. It was good though!

We had dinner with the Graves family, who are literally like my
favorite people ever! I was able to help teach Jenni Graves and see
her get baptized and now her and her husband are going to to baptisms
in the temple this week and its just so awesome to see them
progressing! They're so sweet and have the cutest kids!

We went out trying people after dinner though and that was not the best idea. We
just happened to choose an apartment complex that was just chalk full
with single men. The first door we knocked on, a black guy with his
shirt off and a giant chain opened the door and started flirting with
us and trying to get us to come in his house. Then another door opened
and he asked if we were going door to door and would come in his house
after. They obviously didn't understand what missionaries did. Cause
when 2 girls in dresses knock on your door on Valentine's Day, they
think something else....

On Wednesday we had a lesson with a lady named W who is so sweet!
She is doing this study where she studies a different religion each
month and tries to live that religion for that month of the year. So
she just read the Koran (Quran..?) and reads all the sacred books for
the religions and will go without coffee or tee or meat or whatever it
is that the church doesn't partake of. It's super cool. She is
planning on studying our religion in May and wanted to have the Book
of Mormon so that she would be able to read it. She also wanted to
interview us and it was a perfect opportunity to share our testimonies
and it just went super well!

We are helping IR move into our area this week and have lots of
help from the ward and she is moving in right next to a great family
in our ward so we are super excited about that. (She's the lady that
has a cousin in Mexico that called us and asked us to go give her a
blessing)

We also had this super cool lesson with a Jehovah's Witness in Wendy's
on Saturday. We originally went to get acaí bowls but they turned out
to be terrible so we ran over to Wendy's to get a salad and a man
comes over and invites us to eat with him so we do and we got to teach
him the Restoration and it was super cool! He shared with us how he
grew up baptist and then went to jail and had to study other religions
and then became a part of Jehovah's Witness and is super interested in
religion and it was cool to be able to share with him all our beliefs.

This week was super cool because I just kept being reminded throughout
all of our experiences that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and
that you are never too far off the path or too broken to be healed. I
am so grateful for the Atonement and for the knowledge that Christ
paid for our sins so that we can repent and be made clean again. I
love seeing how the Atonement works both through investigators as they
choose to follow Christ and through me as I use it daily in my life.
It brings pure joy into our lives.

I hope that you had a good week and I pray for you daily! My heart is
with you as our family went through some hard trials this week! I hope
that Doug and his family are doing well and I am so grateful for the
plan of salvation and for the knowledge that we can be together as a
family forever and I look forward to seeing Andrew again ❤️
I hope that mom starts feeling better too! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

Week 38: February 13, 2017 REACHING for the Moon

Sorry that I am emailing you so late and I don't have much time to
write because today was kinda crazy. We had a really good week though
and saw tons of miracles. We got a call on Wednesday from a member in
Mexico that has a cousin who lives here who has cancer and wants a
blessing. The cousin isn't a member and we got to go over and talk
with her and give her the blessing and it went super well! She wants
to grow closer to Christ and start going to church with her husband
and family and is super excited about it! She couldn't come to church
yesterday because she wasn't feeling well at all, she has excruciating
pain in her stomach at times and couldn't make it out of the house.
Plus, we found out while we were talking to her that she is planning
on moving to Overland Park and will be in our area starting next week!
Plus, funny story: we invited brother Woodhouse to come with us to
give her the blessing and he said that he could and would bring his
friend that was in town to do it with him. Well, he gets out of the
car and introduces us to his friend Porter, who is actually Kirk
McKeon's brother in law and is moving into our ward!

We had a man named paul at church this week and he LOVED it. He said
that he connected well with the talks and the patriarch spoke and we
told him all about patriarchal blessings and he loved those and asked
when he could get one haha. It was super good.

We got another call this week from a former investigator who just
randomly called us and told us that he has had some experiences lately
that make him want to start meeting with us and that he wants to come
to church and completely turn his life around and be a part of the
church. It was super crazy! He seems to be doing well but got a little
too drunk on Sunday and couldn't make it to church...soo that's nice.
But we will work with him and he's going to start going to the ARP
classes at the church and everything. It'll be good!

We still have been trying to work with the members and do member
lessons and that has been going well! OP1 is great! I wish we had more
Spanish but the ward is awesome.

I'm glad that you all had a good week!! It sounds like you all did
super well in the race this past weekend and you all look great! Way
to represent the Greenwood family well :)

That was a crazy experience that dad shared about being in Nicaragua!
Maybe one day ill go with you to Nicaragua and El Salvador with you
dad! That sounds way cool! I'm glad that it all worked out and that
Jacob was able to get the bag though. It is definitely super nice to
get packages as a missionary and I'm sure its hard being in foreign
countries and not getting much from your family. THANKS FOR THE
PACKAGE THIS WEEK! That was so awesome to get and now were lookin all
tan and fattened up haha. We haven't been able to start running yet
because we didn't have the car and Hna Davies is still getting over
her cold and didn't want to start yet but hopefully this week. I miss
it so much!

I got the card for the Heidi run today and it looks great! That's such
a neat idea! I hope that everything is going well with that now and
that you'll be able to see success from all of your hard work. It is a
great way to honor Heidi and promote healthy living and everything.
Definitely send me a shirt and waterbottle when you get them por
favor.

I'm sure that New Beginnings went well too and I'm sure that you both
did well at your talks!

Let me know if there is anything I can do and I hope that you all have
a great week. I should be on for a little longer if you have any
questions or anything :) love you!

This little boy is the son of a less active lady we are working with and he is OBSESSED with sharks.  Haha

Attempt two.

Me attempting to grab the moon. 

Saw this pizza and thought of Jason (aka. SQUATCH)

Week 37: February 6: We had a lesson with a family from Iran that was incredible!

Hola Family,

I feel like a lot happened this week but I literally cant think of
like anything to write about so I apologize in advance haha.

It was go good to hear about all of your weeks and I am so glad that
everything seems to be going well with the family! I'm glad that you
are liking your scuba lessons and I would love to do that when I get
home so that I can go on trips like that. That would be so fun! Do you
know when dad and Jason are going to Cozumel yet?

That's exciting that Jason is getting ready to hear back from BYU! At
least he has been accepted to lots of other really good schools so it
wont be a huge bummer if he doesn't make it into BYU. He will still
have fun and love it elsewhere too. I have friends that went to both
UVU and Utah State and loved them both.

The Heidi Run stuff looks really good! Those water bottles are so cute
and I'm sure that it will turn out well! Are you planning on doing the
same thing that you did last year where it is an anywhere anytime type
of run or are you organizing a run in California?

I have liked the changes in the new schedule. It is so nice being able
to home at night and not have to do planning. That is probably my
favorite part of the new schedule right now but I'm super excited
about our mornings too. Hermana Davies was sick this week and so we
didn't start doing it yet but since we have a little more time in the
mornings now, we are planning on going running around a park that is
right by our apartment and actually doing some solid workouts! I MISS
RUNNING. So, I'm stoked for when we get to start doing that. Hermana
Davies said she is terrible at running but said that she would be
willing to try and that she wants to get better so we are going to
give it a try.

We also went on exchanges this week and that was pretty good! They
started doing this new thing where we both go to the STLs area (aka.
Blitz) and serve there for the day, which is super good for the STLs
area. It was kinda sad though because Hna Davies didn't have a super
good experience. It was kinda rough but we keep practicing Spanish
and I know that she'll learn eventually. She does a great job though!!

We had a lesson with a family from Iran that was incredible! We show
up and they start off by telling us that they didn't just read the
introduction to the Book of Mormon but they read the ENTIRE thing!
They started going off about Abinadi and all their favorite stories.
It's the best. They don't speak English though, only Persian. The wife
is learning to speak English but the rest of the family doesn't speak
much at all. They came to church yesterday too and loved it!!
Hopefully they'll continue to progress cause they're doing awesome!

We are planning on starting up an English class for our ward too
because of all the different languages. That might not start up for a
while but we think it is definitely needed. Plus it would be a good
opportunity to get nonmembers into the church for something that is a
little less formal than church.

We are still trying to build up relationships with the members and
have been making cookies to hopefully help with that. Our cookies
have stepped up a lot...we don't have to smash them down with a spoon
halfway through cooking them 😂

It was a good week! I look forward to hearing from all of you!
#1: our cookies that were so good we ate almost 2 dozen...oops
#2: We aren't allowed to eat in the car so Hna Davies stuck her head
out the window to take a bite of her sandwich
#3: our zone pic after zone training
#4: exchanges. I have no idea why Sister costley is holding my hand.